IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v39y2011i12p7543-7556.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Improved stoves in India: A study of sustainable business models

Author

Listed:
  • Shrimali, Gireesh
  • Slaski, Xander
  • Thurber, Mark C.
  • Zerriffi, Hisham

Abstract

Burning of biomass for cooking is associated with health problems and climate change impacts. Many previous efforts to disseminate improved stoves – primarily by governments and NGOs – have not been successful. Based on interviews with 12 organizations selling improved biomass stoves, we assess the results to date and future prospects of commercial stove operations in India. Specifically, we consider how the ability of these businesses to achieve scale and become self-sustaining has been influenced by six elements of their respective business models: design, customers targeted, financing, marketing, channel strategy, and organizational characteristics. The two companies with the most stoves in the field shared in common generous enterprise financing, a sophisticated approach to developing a sales channel, and many person-years of management experience in marketing and operations. And yet the financial sustainability of improved stove sales to households remains far from assured. The only company in our sample with demonstrated profitability is a family-owned business selling to commercial rather than household customers. The stove sales leader is itself now turning to the commercial segment to maintain flagging cash flow, casting doubt on the likelihood of large positive impacts on health from sales to households in the near term.

Suggested Citation

  • Shrimali, Gireesh & Slaski, Xander & Thurber, Mark C. & Zerriffi, Hisham, 2011. "Improved stoves in India: A study of sustainable business models," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7543-7556.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:39:y:2011:i:12:p:7543-7556
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.07.031
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421511005556
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2011.07.031?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Kremer & Edward Miguel, 2007. "The Illusion of Sustainability," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1007-1065.
    2. Feder, Gershon & Savastano, Sara, 2006. "The role of opinion leaders in the diffusion of new knowledge: The case of integrated pest management," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1287-1300, July.
    3. Edwards, Rufus D. & Smith, Kirk R. & Zhang, Junfeng & Ma, Yuqing, 2004. "Implications of changes in household stoves and fuel use in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 395-411, February.
    4. Bailis, Rob & Cowan, Amanda & Berrueta, Victor & Masera, Omar, 2009. "Arresting the Killer in the Kitchen: The Promises and Pitfalls of Commercializing Improved Cookstoves," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 1694-1705, October.
    5. Adam G. Bumpus & Diana M. Liverman, 2008. "Accumulation by Decarbonization and the Governance of Carbon Offsets," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 84(2), pages 127-155, April.
    6. Hyman, Eric L., 1987. "The strategy of production and distribution of improved charcoal stoves in Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 375-386, March.
    7. Barnes, Douglas F, et al, 1993. "The Design and Diffusion of Improved Cooking Stoves," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 8(2), pages 119-141, July.
    8. Carlo Borzaga, 2013. "Social enterprise," Chapters, in: Luigino Bruni & Stefano Zamagni (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Reciprocity and Social Enterprise, chapter 32, pages 318-326, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Hyman, Eric L., 1986. "The economics of improved charcoal stoves in Kenya," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 149-158, April.
    10. Rao, P. Sharath Chandra & Miller, Jeffrey B. & Wang, Young Doo & Byrne, John B., 2009. "Energy-microfinance intervention for below poverty line households in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1694-1712, May.
    11. Adam G. Bumpus & Diana M. Liverman, 2008. "Accumulation by Decarbonization and the Governance of Carbon Offsets," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 84(2), pages 127-155, April.
    12. Howells, Mark I. & Jonsson, Sandra & Käck, Emilia & Lloyd, Philip & Bennett, Kevin & Leiman, Tony & Conradie, Beatrice, 2010. "Calabashes for kilowatt-hours: Rural energy and market failure," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 2729-2738, June.
    13. Smith, Kirk R. & Shuhua, Gu & Kun, Huang & Daxiong, Qiu, 1993. "One hundred million improved cookstoves in China: How was it done?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 941-961, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kshirsagar, Milind P. & Kalamkar, Vilas R., 2014. "A comprehensive review on biomass cookstoves and a systematic approach for modern cookstove design," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 580-603.
    2. Khandelwal, Meena & Hill, Matthew E. & Greenough, Paul & Anthony, Jerry & Quill, Misha & Linderman, Marc & Udaykumar, H.S., 2017. "Why Have Improved Cook-Stove Initiatives in India Failed?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 13-27.
    3. Bailis, Rob & Cowan, Amanda & Berrueta, Victor & Masera, Omar, 2009. "Arresting the Killer in the Kitchen: The Promises and Pitfalls of Commercializing Improved Cookstoves," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 1694-1705, October.
    4. Zhang, Zongxi & Zhang, Yixiang & Zhou, Yuguang & Ahmad, Riaz & Pemberton-Pigott, Crispin & Annegarn, Harold & Dong, Renjie, 2017. "Systematic and conceptual errors in standards and protocols for thermal performance of biomass stoves," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1343-1354.
    5. Temilade Sesan, 2014. "Global imperatives, local contingencies: An analysis of divergent priorities and dominant perspectives in stove development from the 1970s to date," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 14(1), pages 3-20, January.
    6. Karanja, Alice & Gasparatos, Alexandros, 2019. "Adoption and impacts of clean bioenergy cookstoves in Kenya," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 285-306.
    7. Felix, Mwema, 2015. "Future prospect and sustainability of wood fuel resources in Tanzania," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 856-862.
    8. Sutar, Kailasnath B. & Kohli, Sangeeta & Ravi, M.R. & Ray, Anjan, 2015. "Biomass cookstoves: A review of technical aspects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1128-1166.
    9. Natalie Slawinski & Jonatan Pinkse & Timo Busch & Subhabrata Bobby Banerjeed, 2014. "The role of short-termism and uncertainty in organizational inaction on climate change: multilevel framework," Working Papers hal-00961226, HAL.
    10. Josefa Sánchez Contreras & Alberto Matarán Ruiz & Luis Villodres Ramírez & Celia Jiménez Martín & Guillermo Gámez Rodríguez & Rafael Martín Pérez & Álvaro Campos-Celador, 2024. "Energy Colonialism in Europe: A Participatory Analysis of the Case of Granada (Spain)," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-27, January.
    11. Jayme Walenta, 2020. "Climate risk assessments and science‐based targets: A review of emerging private sector climate action tools," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(2), March.
    12. Maes, Wouter H. & Verbist, Bruno, 2012. "Increasing the sustainability of household cooking in developing countries: Policy implications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 4204-4221.
    13. Kondylis, Florence & Mueller, Valerie, 2012. "Seeing is Believing? Evidence from a Demonstration Plot Experiment in Mozambique," MSSP working papers 1, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    14. Anna Davies & Niamh Kirwan, 2010. "Rescaling climate justice: sub-national issues and innovations for low carbon futures," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp340, IIIS.
    15. Howard, Rebecca Joy & Tallontire, Anne & Stringer, Lindsay & Marchant, Rob, 2015. "Unraveling the Notion of “Fair Carbon”: Key Challenges for Standards Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 343-356.
    16. Nabernegg, Stefan & Bednar-Friedl, Birgit & Muñoz, Pablo & Titz, Michaela & Vogel, Johanna, 2019. "National Policies for Global Emission Reductions: Effectiveness of Carbon Emission Reductions in International Supply Chains," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 146-157.
    17. Kelly Kay, 2016. "Breaking the bundle of rights: Conservation easements and the legal geographies of individuating nature," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(3), pages 504-522, March.
    18. Xiaoying Xu & Xinxin Tian, 2023. "Dynamic Evolution and Trend Prediction in Coupling Coordination between Energy Consumption and Green Development in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-21, September.
    19. Niklas Vahlne & Erik O. Ahlgren, 2014. "Energy Efficiency at the Base of the Pyramid: A System-Based Market Model for Improved Cooking Stove Adoption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-21, November.
    20. Anderson, Blake & M'Gonigle, Michael, 2012. "Does ecological economics have a future?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 37-48.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:39:y:2011:i:12:p:7543-7556. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.